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From Sea to Summit to City Hall: Three Days in L.A.

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

From Sea to Summit to City Hall: Three Days in L.A.

Old 04-23-13, 12:46 AM
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From Sea to Summit to City Hall: Three Days in L.A.

Here are three days - Friday, Saturday and Sunday - when I brought my camera on my rides, three days when I rode to the broad shore of the Pacific Ocean, to the top of Mt. Lee, and as a participant in the semi-annual CicLAvia event, when 15 miles of streets were closed to motor vehicles.




Above: The Venice Beach Boardwalk, a de rigueur stop on my 25 mile ride.



Above: I actually made this photo last year. The action at the skateboard park, at Venice Beach, happens everyday.



Above: The beach at Santa Monica was mostly deserted in late afternoon in April. The sand will be jammed by summer.



Above: The bluffs along Ocean Avenue, in Santa Monica, offer grand views out over the Pacific Ocean.



Above: The view east, along the Ballona Creek Bike Path.



Above: I made a last stop at the top of the stairs that climb out of the depths of Santa Monica Canyon (there are about 200 steep steps in all). It's a great place to people watch, particularly people in great physical shape (and it's pretty obvious they don't mind being watched). Back in the day, the stairs were wooden, and there were no resting platforms.

On a Saturday or Sunday, there's barely space between people making their way up and down the stairs. Years and years ago, there were very few people who climbed those stairs, and I was one of them. I'd bike from my home to the top of the stairs, dismount, sling my bike over my shoulder, and walk down and up four times.



Above: On the following day, a pleasant Saturday afternoon, I rode north from my home and up into the Santa Monica Mountains, to the summit of Mt. Lee, home to the famed Hollywood Sign, with its 40 foot high letters. It's a hard climb, with short stretches at 13 or 14%.



Above: Looking out over a chunk of the Los Angeles Basin from the road - closed to vehicle traffic - that leads to the top of Mt. Lee and the Hollywood Sign. Elevation at the top: 1,680 feet above sea level.



Above: Part of my route took me to Cahuenga Pass, where I found wild mustard growing taller than I am (which is a little under 6 feet).



Above: The view from the top of the Hollywood Sign, with the Hollywood Reservoir to the right.
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Old 04-23-13, 01:11 AM
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Great images. Looks like a great warm ride. That's what the snow bound need to see.
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Old 04-23-13, 01:38 AM
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CicLAvia! A few times a year, streets through Los Angeles are closed to motorized traffic. This year the route led 15 miles down and back, from City Hall to Venice.



Above: Most people chose to ride west, from downtown to Venice. My friend, photographer Ted Soqui, and I rode east, with relatively clear sailing. We had jumped onto the course at about the mid-way point.



Much of the route led down Venice Blvd. By mid-day, the street was packed with riders. There were so many cyclists - perhaps 150,000, according to semiofficial reports (and I think it was closer to 300,000), that choke points developed at some of the places where motorists could cross the boulevard on a green traffic light. In fact, there were too many people on the ride for Ted and me by mid-day, and we bailed as we reached the edge of Culver City and West Los Angeles.



Above: There were some odd vehicles, like this table on wheels; the seated people, in addition to enjoying a fine lunch, complete with wine and an accordian player, were turning pedals, hidden below the tablecloth.



Above: City Hall, cyclists, and some bikes permanently parked near the start of the route.

I ended up the weekend with some terrific memories, some photos I like enough to have posted here, and I added 75 miles added to my yearly total.
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